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A Deep Dive into STEPN
A Brief about STEPN
STEPN is a fitness app that incentivizes people to take their fitness seriously. With
obesity rising every year since 2011, incentivizing people with real money to walk, jog,
and run around will bring back optimum health.
STEPN received funding of about $5 million from the likes of Folius Ventures, Alameda
Research, Sequoia Capital India, and so on. STEPN has been able to expand from its
original move-to-earn concept by incorporating inbuilt Game-Fi and Social-Fi elements.
This is the first app to successfully integrate the move-to-earn concept on the Solana
Blockchain.
What Is Move To Earn (M2E)?
Move-to-earn apps pay you for moving around. It could be as simple as walking or more
intense activities like running or jogging.
The idea behind move-to-earn is similar to that of play-to-earn. You get incentivized with
the app’s native tokens for performing certain tasks, and you can convert the tokens to
fiats that you can spend in the real world.
However, play-to-earn is centered around keeping you entertained, while move-to-earn
is focused on keeping you fit. But the general concept is you get paid to perform specific
actions.
This concept of getting paid for performing your daily activities is getting popularized by
web 3.0 technology, which is a concept centered on the decentralization of the internet.
• STEPN can also be termed a play-to-earn with their Shoe-Minting Event (SME).
STEPN users can use two sneakers to breed, and by doing so they'll produce a
shoebox. To mint shoes, the user must make sure the shoes are in his possession and
not under a lease.
There are other circumstances that must be met before a user can start shoe-minting,
and there is a mechanism behind how it operates. The shoe-minting section of their
whitepaper covers this.
• Gem and Sockets is another play-to-earn feature on STEPN. Once your sneakers
reach a certain level, you'll be rewarded with Gem and Sockets.
There is a broad functionality on how Gem and Sockets work on their whitepaper, as
well as other features like increasing the attributes of the gems, and also qualifying for it
after reaching certain levels and performing specific tasks.
What Is STEPN NFT All About?
The whole idea of STEPN nft revolves around their nft. Without owning one of their nfts,
you can't utilize the functionalities STEPN offers. The nft is in the form of a sneaker,
which is your identity in the STEPN ecosystem. You can own more than one STEPN nft,
but owning more doesn't translate to more profits.
Sneaker Hierarchy
Like the majority of incentivized applications, they also have a hierarchy. The ones at
the top earn more than those at the bottom.
• Before you pick any sneakers, you have to first determine who you are — runner,
jogger, walker, or trainer. This will determine the type of sneaker you settle for, as they
have different earning potential, and not meeting the sneakers requirement will reduce
your earning level.
• Afterwards, consider the rarity of the sneakers — Common sneakers, Uncommon
sneakers, Rare Sneakers, Epic Sneakers, and Legendary Sneakers. The last two are
high-quality ones. Having one of these beats having five of the uncommon ones.
• If you own a low-quality one, you can increase your hierarchy by burning GST and
GMT tokens and 5 low-quality sneakers, and in return, you get a higher-quality sneaker.
By doing this, you are making STEPN tokens and nfts remain deflationary, and for doing
this you will be rewarded with a leg up the hierarchy.
There are several other ways to move up the hierarchy.
Alongside their hierarchy is an anti-cheating system to block anyone from gaming the
system at the peril of actual users. They have three mechanics in play to help curb this
— machine-learning STEPN’s Anti-Cheating System (SMAC), Desensitized GPS data,
Motion sensor and health data.
Customization
As said earlier, your sneakers are your identity in the STEPN ecosystem. However,
STEPN is taking things a step further by making it possible for you to "customize" your
sneakers to the look you want. You get to input a name, quotes, extra attributes, and so
on that align with your needs and style.
Before you can start customizing, you need to reach certain levels. Also, this feature is
still under development but is expected to launch soon.
Why Is STEPN App Important?
For you to utilize STEPN, you need to be moving around, and having a computer with
you isn't feasible. Only a phone can do this, which is why a mobile app was created. So,
while moving, you can access different STEPN features with ease.
Moreover, this app is like an ecosystem on its own. It includes every single feature
STEPN has to offer, so you don't need to interact much with third parties. This app has
a built-in crypto wallet and a decentralized crypto exchange.
There is also an in-built decentralized Nft marketplace where you can also buy and sell
badges, gems, shoeboxes etc.
This marketplace is also where you can rent sneakers. You can rent your sneakers out
for 24 hours or 7 days, depending on the renter's credit rating. You'll be rewarded for
putting it up for rent.
However, to start utilizing any of the features and earning tokens on STEPN you need
an invite code. You can join STEPN only via an invite code, and this invite code will be
given to you by a user in the game. This makes the game a closed system.
This closed system is praised by most in the community as it helps to filter out those
with mischievous intentions, as these people are usually looking for ways to game the
system. However, they disable the activation code from time to time as a way of
facilitating promotion and marketing for STEPN, which in a way contradicts their closed
system structure.
STEPN Tokenomics
There are three tokens associated with STEPN. Two are their native tokens, while the
third one is associated with the layer 1 blockchain they are built on.
STEPN has two native tokens:
1. GST (Green Satoshi Token) which is a game token.
2. GMT (Green Metaverse Token) which is a governance token.
3. SOL (Solana) which is the blockchain token
1. Green Satoshi Token (GST)
This is the token you will earn when moving for an allotted period in a day. The amount
you earn depends on the energy cap of your sneaker. This is why it is advisable to opt
for high-quality sneakers.
To mint sneakers, repair sneakers, upgrade sneakers, unlock sockets, and upgrade
gems, you'll be using the GST token.
This token has an unlimited supply.
1. Green Metaverse Token (GMT)
This is STEPN governance token. When a decision needs to be made that will impact
STEPN's future, this is the token that will be used to vote. Apart from voting, this token
also has two other uses —
• it is used to customize sneakers
• it is used to access locked activities and premium content.
Holding this token in your wallet has its benefits, and it is covered in detail in the GMT
earning section of STEPN's whitepaper.
This token supply is capped at 6 billion, and it is minted during the STEPN Token
Generation Event.
2. Solana (SOL)
● This is the native token of the Solana blockchain. To purchase new sneakers or
to interact with their decentralized exchange, this is the token you will need. To
make any purchase, you'll make use of the in-app crypto wallet, and this wallet
supports different SPL tokens.
STEPN Realm
STEPN Realm is a server that acts as a host to a fork of the game. In simpler terms,
this means users can be in different realms but still be playing the same game.
With Realm, STEPN is trying to shift from being just a move-to-earn project to one that
is creating a metaverse where other projects can build on.
Projects that choose to build on STEPN Realm will be given a large degree of liberty, so
they get to define their community culture and their brand outlook. Everything from their
tokens, nft visuals, and narrative will be controlled by the project.
For STEPN, this is a good move as it offers them new value propositions. The more
projects that are onboarded in this realm, the more STEPN comes to the fore. STEPN
also receives a percentage of any profits generated by the projects in the realm.
As of now, there are three realms — Solana Realm (Solana), BNB Realm (BNBChain),
and APE Realm (Ethereum).
With Aptos blockchain in the limelight now, and with their programming language
MOVE, which is seen to be revolutionary for scalability; it is a no-brainer for STEPN to
infuse interoperability with this blockchain. And the easiest way to go about this is via
the Pontem network.
Apart from Pontem being the best wallet for crypto, Pontem is also building a
governance tool that STEPN can integrate with their GMT token. They can also make
use of other Pontem network tools like PONTEM BLOCKS and MOVE PLAYGROUND.
STEPN Team
FindSatoshi Lab, an Australian fintech company, is the team behind STEPN. They
gained popularity when they took first place in the 2021 Solana Ignition Hackathon
Gaming Track. This is the reason behind the confidence of investors in STEPN.
Conclusion
STEPN as a move-to-earn has kickstarted a movement that gives people a reason to
stay fit beyond just motivation. They have made it possible for people to make money
while trying to improve their health, and in the near future, people might turn this into a
full-time career.
They are also taking wide strides to be an ecosystem where every aspect of Web 3 fits
into it perfectly. They have achieved this to a degree with the inclusion of a DEX, crypto
wallet, and Nft marketplace, but only Solana tokens can interact with them, so for them
to get wider exposure, interoperability is needed.
About Pontem
Pontem is a product development studio working toward global financial inclusion
powered by blockchains. Together, Pontem and Aptos are creating the fundamental
dApps and other infrastructure necessary for the adoption of their L1. These
infrastructure components include development tools, EVMs, AMMs, and more.
The first DEX as well as NFTs and stable assets are supported by the wallet that
Pontem recently published.
The most secure and scalable layer 1 Blockchain is currently Aptos, which only recently
launched.
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